Gnarled peasants driving their herds home from theAlpine meadows in the evening in order to processes themilk, in copper kettles, into tasty cheese in the morning— the Swiss tourism industry is fond of using idyllicpictures of this kind in its advertising work. In reality,traditional mountain farming at the foot of an awesomeAlpine peak is already largely a thing of the past. In thehigher areas of the Tessine what was once pastures andmeadows is now overgrown with brush and thickets.Indeed, animals that had earlier been exterminated arenow returning to many Alpine regions, including thewolf, the lynx, and even the bear, because they no longerneed fear being disturbed by man.

There are two demographic tendencies that may beregarded as typical for Switzerland in recent years. Onthe one hand, the Alpine valleys are growing increasinglyempty, and the middle of the country is becoming itsperiphery. On the other hand, the urban agglomerations,the commuter belts surrounding the cities, are growingfurther and further together to form one large urban regionin which the boundaries between town and countryare increasingly blurred.